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Graham-Rogall sale put on hold

Tentative agreement aims to get residents a better deal.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published February 7, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - The city Housing Authority will delay the sale of its largest public housing complex, hoping more time could lead to a better deal for the 318 residents now living there.

Members of the Housing Authority board on Tuesday tentatively agreed to a 90-day moratorium on the proposed sale of Graham-Rogall, a 486-unit public housing complex near Tropicana Field.

Housing Authority board members will use the time to continue negotiating with the would-be buyer, KEGB, as well as to explore ways to keep the low-income development in public hands, they say.

KEGB wants to renovate the building into affordable, for-sale condominiums. In that scenario, the project's current residents would be forced to leave.

"We have an obligation to protect the residents at any cost," said board member Deveron Gibbons, who along with board member David Welch was critical of the proposed sale.

Gibbons said residents were initially told they would be allowed to stay. Since plans have changed, the Housing Authority should reconsider its position, he and Welch said. That should include finding government partners to pay for needed repairs, Welch said.

"New strategies and procedures should be undertaken," Welch said. "You can't tell me it can't be done. We could get the money. You don't have a dumb board here. We're going to have to go out and get the funding."

Renovations to the 30-year-old buildings could cost at least $22-million, said Housing Authority executive director Darrell Irions.

And even if the Housing Authority decided to renovate Graham-Rogall, residents would still be forced to move. It's not possible to complete the needed repairs with residents still living there, Irions said.

KEGB partner Guy Burns said developers would not fight the added delay. A contract to sell the property was first signed in June 2004, only to be held up by a lawsuit that said the bidding process was flawed.

KEGB has already agreed to contribute up to $1-million of the nearly $12-million purchase price to help relocate Graham-Rogall residents. That process could take more than two years, Housing Authority officials say.

At issue Tuesday was whether the contract to sell the property was still valid at all.

Housing Authority attorneys say they believe the contract to sell Graham-Rogall expired last month when KEGB failed to close on the nearly $12-million sale.

But KEGB principal, Tampa lawyer Guy Burns, said he believes the contract is still valid and enforceable. Burns has said he is prepared to sue if necessary.

Though they function as one development, Graham and Rogall operate differently. That has created some of the confusion, officials say. Graham, which has 336 units, is pure public housing. Rogall, which has 150 units, is subsidized for-rent housing the Housing Authority controls.

Rogall must stay for-rent housing until 2017, Housing Authority officials say.

That unrecorded agreement, which was initially not made known to Burns, has stalled any potential sale. Burns said the Housing Authority had been working to remove the restriction just months ago.

Now the authority board seems dug in on the other side.

"I hope that people are not thinking of us as having ill motives," said Burns, who was accompanied Tuesday by Ken Heretick, a minority partner in the project. "We are not interested in doing something that is going to create an additional hardship."

Residents, meanwhile, weren't really sure what the moratorium might mean. After being told they would be allowed to stay, then being told they would have to leave, Tuesday's development only adds to the uncertainty.

"It's certainly interesting," said Bill Walsh, a resident and head of Graham-Rogall's resident management corporation.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or 727 892-2273.

Fast Facts:

About Graham-Rogall

Graham-Rogall is a development owned by the St. Petersburg Housing Authority at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Street and 3rd Avenue S. Most residents earn less than 30 percent of the area median income.

Graham Park: 336 units (204 efficiencies, 120 1-bedrooms, 12 2-bedrooms), built in 1971.

Rogall: 150 units (90 efficiencies, 60 1-bedrooms), built in 1978.

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 01:10:37]